Condition
by The Curse of Forever
Summary: And maybe, he could be just a little bit of a better person if he could help her too.


**AN: **You know, after about a week and a half of one, rather pathetic, meal a day...

One begins to fantasize about food.

Going home today though~

Enjoy the product of my starvation

* * *

><p>He was in the hospital, again. His anger and frustration seemed to grow with every passing second he spent within the sterilized building.<p>

"I _told _you, I'm _fine_. Just a few broken ribs, nothing I can't deal with. They might even just be cracked, or bruised even! Can't you get me outta here?" The young alchemist pleaded with his superior officer.

"You know there's nothing I can do to get you out before your released. We both know I would if I could, if for nothing more than to save me the extra paperwork, but according to them, you hit your head pretty hard, and they want to keep you here for observation to make sure you don't have a concussion of something."

"I think I would know if I had a concussion. C'mon, _please_? Did ya hear that? I even said please. The only fresh air around here is in the oxygen tanks, I _cannot_ stay here, I think I may go crazy."

"It's just one night Fullmetal, you'll live." Ed huffed. The older man rolled his eyes.

"Where's Al? You really shouldn't be left unsupervised."

"Hey!"

"You have a tendency to cause trouble when left to your own devices, and I think I've apologized to quite enough people on your behalf." He said with a smirk. Ed crossed his arms childishly and looked away, swishing his loose hair about his shoulders.

"I dunno, he probably wandered off somewhere. Hospitals are boring for him too you know," he shrugged indifferently. Mustang sighed through his nose.

"Well, just try to stay out of trouble." And he left the blond mumbling something that sounded dangerously close to '_useless bastard colonel_.'

"But it's so _boring _here," he murmured to himself as he fell back against the pillows. A few minuets passed in silence and he closed his eyes. "Gah, dammit!" he sat up. "This sucks." He strained his ears in an attempt to detect the sound of nearing footsteps. All was quiet. A wolfish grin spread across his face and deftly pulled the IV out of his left arm. He eased himself out of his hospital bed, trying not to strain his abused midsection. Creaking the door opened as quietly as he could, Ed looked up and down the hall before stepping out of his room, his bare automail foot making a small _'chink' _against the cold tile.

He had no destination in mind, just to get out of the hospital room before he went crazy. Ed wrinkled his nose. Color was an imaginary concept here. White floors, white walls, white ceiling, white outfits- the whole damn place was just so _white._ Why couldn't hospitals be painted red? Then a flash of color caught his eye. Curiosity piqued, he peeked his head into the hallway.

'_Children's section,' _he thought as he stepped into the colorful corridor. _'Well at least it's not white.' _He tread softly, down the hall, attempting to keep the metallic ringing from his metal appendage as quiet as possible. He flinched when a nurse with a metal cart passed by, but she almost ignored his presence entirely.

"Hey!" A soft voice called from one of the rooms. Startled, Ed looked around. He spotted a small girl sitting on a railed hospital bed, grinning hugely and waved at him. He stepped into her room a little uncertainly.

"Um, hi." Her grin grew wider and flowing, sing-song words of a foreign language poured past her lips. Xingese. Now that he looked at her, the small girl's slanted eyes as well as the peach fuzz of black hair on her bald head were clearly Xingian. Ed was glad he'd spent so much time wandering out in the East. He cleared his throat, hoping his language skills were up to snuff.

"My Xingese is not very good," he said switching languages. She let out a small giggle.

"That's okay." Her words were accompanied with a huge grin. She patted the green plastic chair that was pulled up to her bed. "Come here, sit." Ed obeyed, sitting beside the tiny foreign girl. "You can keep me company until my mommy comes back!" He gave her a small smile and sat beside her.

"And where did she go?" He asked. The girl laughed again.

"Your words are funny, but pretty good for an Amestrian." She began speaking again before Ed had a chance to ask what she meant. "She's talking with the doctor, but I didn't understand what they were saying." She pouted for a moment, but the expression was soon replaced by a smile again. "But you'll play with me until she gets back, right?" Her smile was infectious.

"Sure." He said with a grin of his own.

"My name's Meili Hua, that means beautiful flower. But you can call me Meili. What's your name?"

"Edward Elric, I don't think it really means anything, but you can call me Ed."

"You have really pretty hair." That was not what he had been expecting to hear. He glanced briefly at the golden hair still hanging loose around his shoulders.

"Um, thanks?" The corners of her mouth curved up. She sure smiled a lot.

"Can I see it?" That seemed even stranger.

"Uh, sure," and after scuffling the chair around some, his back was up against the cold metal railings and he could feel Meili's tiny, delicate fingers stroking through his hair, beginning a sloppy braid.

"I like to play with people's hair 'cuz I don't have any my own any more." Her voice was so uncharacteristically sad that Ed had to resist the urge to turn and look at her, to offer her some semblance of comfort. "Sometimes mommy lets me play with hers, but she's been so tired lately. And sad, _really_ sad."

"She probably just needs a little time to rest," he said awkwardly as he turned his head. She jerked his hair until he was facing forwards again. "Where'd you hair go anyway?"

"My mommy told me the doctor says my blood is sick, and the treatment they give me to make me better makes my hair fall out. It makes me feel really gross too. But I'v been much better since we came to this country for treatment." An image flashed in his mind, of a little girl, with long braids. "But I'll get better soon, the doctor says I'm doing very well."

"That's good." He tried to keep the note of despondency from his voice.

"You could read me a story."

"W-what?" This girl was like some sort of light switch. He turned his head fractionally and she beamed.

"All the books they gave me are in Amestrian, so I only look at the pictures, but you could read them to me right?"

"Uh, sure." Skinny, light toned arms stretched over his head and a small stack of children's books were dropped in his lap.

"Now read," she ordered, her nimble fingers returning to his hair.

* * *

><p>"We'll have to have dinner sometime," He said, smirking over the desk at the blushing secretary. He folded the slip with her phone number and stuffed it into his pocket.<p>

"I'll be looking forward to it," she said, batting her eyelashes flirtatiously. Another, much older and less attractive, nurse came up behind her and tapped her shoulder. The brunette gave him the universal 'hold on a second finger,' rolling her eyes and giving him a semi-exasperated smile before turning to her colleague.

"Could you leave a memo for Dr. Shaltry and tell her one of her patients is missing?" The girl was already writing. He really should have caught her name.

"Sure, which one?" The graying nurse looked to her clipboard.

"The one from two-oh-four." Roy resisted the urge to tap his fingers impatiently. Something about those numbers seemed familiar ... the digits in someone's phone number perhaps? He looked down at the slip of paper in his hand. No, that wasn't it. and he didn't usually make an effort to memorize the phone numbers of girls, there were just too many. Normally he would just forget about it, but these numbers were really nagging at his mind.

'_Room two-oh-four? ... Dammit Fullmetal._'

"I'm sorry," he told the girl. "But it appears I have to go on a midget hunt." The secretary gave him a confused look as he turned away. '_Shame, she was a pretty one._' He walked back towards the stairs at a quick pace. He quickly jogged to the second floor and made his way to Ed's room. Sure enough, the door was ajar. The hospital bed was empty and the IV tube hung from the metal stand, slowly dripping clear fluid onto the floor.

"Dammit." Roy sighed and turned from the room. He tugged his gloves on a little tighter. '_Fullmetal, when I find you..._'

* * *

><p>'<em>Where is that brat?<em>' Mustang thought irritably as he made a desperate turn into the children's ward. The kid was far more trouble than he was worth.

"Excuse me miss," he said stopping a young nurse walking down the hall. "Have you seen a blonde boy? About yay high, automail arm and leg?"

"Oh! I've seen him! I knew he must belong to somebody. Yeah, you can find him in that room over there." She pointed to a door not far down the hall.

"Thank you," he flashed her a grin and began to turn.

"By the way," Mustang turned back to look at the fiery headed girl. "He doesn't happen to have a little sister does he?"

"He has a younger brother."

"Hm. Okay, just wondering." He raised an eye brow and watched her retreating form before shaking his head and turning away, his thoughts returning to the insubordinate child awaiting him.

'_Here? Really Fullmetal, of all the places._'

He stepped towards the door the kind nurse had pointed out to him and stopped when he heard a familiar voice float past him.

It was Ed's voice for sure, though the gentle tone was a far cry from the roar he heard in the shouting matches he and the boy had together. And there was something off about the way his speech sounded. It was definitely _not _Amestrian. The syllables had a strange sing-song, flowing quality to them.

He quietly opened the door and leaned against the frame, raising an eyebrow at the scene before him. Fullmetal was sitting cross-legged in a plastic chair with an Amestrian children's book in his lap, reading from it in Xingese. On the bed behind him sat a small, balding girl whose slanted eyes clearly defined her as Xingian. Her fingers were in his hair, slowly molding a crooked braid.

His speech faltered, and the the foreign girl corrected him gently in the same language.

"I never knew you spoke Xingese Fullmetal." It was amusing how the young boy flinched. He turned to look at him only to receive a smack on the head from the tiny girl. He turned his quickly to face forwards again.

"Yeah well, with how long we've been stationed out here in the East, I'm surprised you haven't learned yet. The majority of the population along the desert is made up of immigrants, you practically _need _to know it to get any information. They should really make learning it a requirement for the people at Eastern command." The colonel just shrugged.

"You should probably be getting back to your room now, your doctor's starting to worry about her patient going missing."

"I can't leave," he'd spoken almost before Mustang had finished talking. "I promised Meili I'd stay with her until her mom came back." Roy sighed.

"Why can't you just do as your told for once?" He sighed heavily and walked up to the gold-haired child. The Xingian girl was looking up at him with wide dark eyes. She tugged on the blond rope of hair in her hands and said something softly in her native tongue. Ed quickly answered. Her response was a soft whining noise. She narrowed her slanted eyes at the dark haired man before her. Mustang raised an eyebrow.

"What'd she say?"

"She asked me why you were here and I told her you wanted me to leave."

The girl said something in Xingese again. "She says she doesn't like you anymore." Ed gave him his best shit-eating grin. "Not much to like anyway, so no big loss there." She was still glaring at him, it was becoming a little unnerving. They made eye contact for a brief moment. The girl - Mei was it?- seemed to relax a bit before asking him something. He looked to Ed. The boy sighed.

"She was asking if you were from Xing too." He raised an eyebrow and looked to the girl before turning back to Ed.

"Why would she think that?"

Ed shrugged then gave a vague gesture in Mustang's general direction. "Well, you know, black eyes, black hair, black soul- oh wait, the last one's just you."

He gave the smirking boy a look before replying. "My mother was Xingian actually, but that doesn't really matter. What matters right now is getting you back to your room before you get yourself into more trouble."

"I already told you bastard, I'm not going. I have to stay until her mom comes back." Mustang pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed heavily.

"Edward, your hurt. That's why your in the hospital in the first place. They're keeping you for observation to make sure you don't have a concussion, you need to get back to your room." Edward opened his mouth to retort.

"Don't make me order you Fullmetal." The boy bared his teeth.

Voices floated in from the hall and they both turned towards the sound. The door opened, revealing a short Xingian women speaking in heavily accented Amestrian with a tall bespectacled doctor.

"It would be well worth it, if you could afford it. After the procedure was completed I can almost guarantee she would be cured completely." The foreigner stared intently into the face of the doctor. She bit her lip for a moment before speaking again.

"I'll need some time to get the money but," she cast a nervous glance over to her daughter. "Anything to save my baby."

"Well as I said Ms. Hua, time is of the essence." By the look on his face, Roy could tell the brief exchange hadn't escaped Edward's attention either.

And then the tension was broken as the small, bed-ridden child threw her arms in the air and cried out, "Mommy!" A smile stretched across the womens face as she turned to her daughter. They spoke to each other in the fast-paced, rhythmic language of their home country, the younger gesturing excitedly to the blond at her bedside.

And then Ed was part of the conversation and Roy couldn't help but to childishly feel left out. He watched as the young boy turned to the girl's mother and seemed to ask her something.

From what Roy gathered, Ed was ... offering something perhaps? and the Xingese woman was shaking her head. Now it sounded like, was Fullmetal pleading? He gestured towards the girl on the bed and continued speaking, his face looking almost pained. Mustang could see the dark haired woman's resolve wavering. She looked to her daughter, who was now engaged with some dolls. She turned to the blond in fromt of her and nodded. "Anything to save my baby." That same phrase from earlier. Ed shot up out of his chair and practically sprinted out. "

Where do you think your going Fullmetal?" Ed was already halfway down the hall.

"Shutup bastard I'll be right back." Mustang watched the blond dissappear down the hall. He pulled back into the room and found himself being subjected to the gaze of two sets of slanted brown eyes. He shifted from foot to foot awkwardly. The dark gazes never wavered.

"Who are you?" The woman asked, gaze never wavering. He started.

"Oh, terribly sorry. I'm Roy Mustang pleasure to meet you." He put his hand out, as to shake hers, but she merely looked at it, then up to Roy again. He chuckled awkwardly and brought a hand up to rub the back of his neck.

"And what are you doing here, Roy Mustang?" Roy jumped again.

"O-oh, well you see, the little blond boy here actually belongs to me, so..." He trailed off awkwardly.

"Are you his father?"

"Wha-? No, _no_. No, I'm not, thank goodness for that. I'm more of his...supervisor."

"Mm." And they went back to staring at him. It would be a blatant lie if he'd said he wasn't thankful when he heard the mismatched footsteps hurrying down the hall in their direction.

The boy burst into the room, panting slightly. He lifted a small scrap of paper that looked suspiciously like it was torn off the end of a medical chart. He spoke quickly to the foreign woman who was, _thank god_, taking her eyes away from Roy. She said something softly, and _damn _Roy was really beginning to wish he had invested in learning the language.

They continued to talk as Ed lifted a pen and began writing, all the while keeping up a steady stream of conversation with woman sitting beside the bed. Roy glanced at the paper beneath the boy's pen.

"Fullmetal is that a check?" The blond froze. "You know that money is for researching, right?" Edward turned and stepped into his personal space, looking directly up into his face.

"Maybe," he spat. Sheesh he seemed pissed. "I'm researching to see if your enough of a cold hearted bastard to let this little girl _die_." The Colonel stepped back, blinking in surprise. Then he blinked.

"Well Fullmetal, with the lifestyle you lead, it doesn't come as a surprise that you have such large medical bills." The shorter absolutely _beamed_. And gave him a lazy salute.

"Understood, _sir_." It came out mocking, surely as Edward had intended, but nonetheless the military officer was still shocked. The blond whirlwind pushed the paper into the hands of the woman, and then turned to the girl on the bed. They exchanged some quick words and she leaned forward to hug him. And then he turned around and headed towards the door.

"Close your jaw Mustang, we're going." The dark haired man hurried to comply and followed the blond out of the room.

"So what's with the sudden compliance? You wait until _now _to do what I ask?" He looked to the shorter as the walked side by side.

"Well, I did promise I'd be back. Maybe it won't be so bad staying 'till tomorrow. Plus, Al's probably looking for me by now." He shrugged. Roy laughed and ruffled his hair.

"Your a good kid, you know."

"Uh, _yeah_. Of course I'm a good kid." He gave him a lopsided grin. They stopped in front of Ed's room. "See ya later Mustang," he said with a backwards wave.

"Bye Fullmetal." Roy stood in the doorway for a moment, watching as the blond crawled into his railed bed.

_You really are a good kid._ He smiled. _Well_, he thought with a chuckle, _there was a reason Amestris had chosen him to be hero of the people._

* * *

><p><strong>AN:<strong> I think I would develop a fascination with hair too if all my hair was gone. D: I do have a lot of hair. Though I've been thinking of cutting it :/

This is by far the longest thing I've done. So I hope it was ... well at least relatively descent.

I'd like to give thanks to my biology teacher for letting me steal his last name, and even though I switched his gender :P Guess I could of picked any teacher ... but made our class pancakes when we got a good class average on our tests (Talk about motivation ~)

Also, in case I didn't make it as clear as I'd hoped, Meili has leukemia, cancer of the blood if I'm correct (which I'm pretty sure I am). It's normally fatal, and you have to go through loads of blood transfusions, but for the sake of the story I'm assuming that Amestris' advanced technology (cough cough automail) has progressed enough in the medical field to cure things like such.

I'm gonna wait to upload this in the morning, since it's currently ... ohwowlate, I'm goin' to bed. Maybe more like afternoon.


End file.
